Texting 'is no bar to literacy'

It's gr8 news 4 skools. Claims that the explosion in text messaging among children is eroding youngsters' literacy skills appear to be unfounded, according to research, reports The Guardian.

"A study comparing the punctuation and spelling of 11- and 12-year-olds who use mobile phone text messaging with another group of non-texters conducting the same written tests found no significant differences between the two.

Both groups made some grammatical and spelling errors, and "text-speak" abbreviations and symbols did not find their way into the written English of youngsters used to texting.

According to the author of the research, the speech and language therapist Veenal Raval, the findings reflect children's ability to "code switch", or move between modes of communication - a trend familiar to parents whose offspring slip effortlessly between playground slang and visit-the-grandparents politeness.

But the study did find that the pupils familiar with text messaging wrote significantly less when asked to describe a picture or an event than those who did not use mobiles, potentially fuelling concerns that the quality and expressiveness of children's writing could be at risk even if their spelling is not."

The study was conducted at the the department of communication and science at City University in London.

The general concensus on cell phones and students' reading/writing skills has so far been mostly negative:

-- SMS threatens Norwegian language say teachers - Norwegian teachers are concerned that text messaging is hurting the Norwegian language, according to a sociologist's recent survey of their attitudes.

-- Technology marches ahead, grammar gets worse - Text messages, email and the push for faster and more efficient communications are taking their toll on grammar, language experts of Queensland believe.

-- SMS Resulting in Poor English Grades? - That's what Malaysian academic authorities think, at least.

-- SMS and Internet blamed for decline in English Examinations - Education director-general Datuk Abdul Rafie Mahat of Kuala Lumpur blamed text messaging and the Internet for the decline in English language.

-- Teachers hung up on SMS - Australian school teachers are concerned students wont know the difference between using text language to send an SMS to a friend and handing in an essay in proper English.

-- An essay written in text message shorthand - A 13-year-old Scottish girl having handed in an essay written entirely in SMS short-hand has the academic world in uproar.

With one heartwarming story:

-- Teacher finds novel way to use texting - Finally, an English teacher who has something nice to say about text messaging. While critics of the cellphone revolution say the phenomenon is destroying English, in Mrs Dawson's class, texting is used as a tool for learning Shakespeare.

emily | 12:10 PM | SMS and Students |
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